Obesity is Big Business!

A state court judge invalidated new restrictions on sweetened beverages on Monday, a day before they were set to take effect, saying the rules were “arbitrary and capricious.”

…The ruling stunned the Bloomberg administration, which was deep into preparations to begin enforcing the ban and had even boasted on Monday that it should be applied nationally as a remedy to rising obesity rates…

I personally don't think a ban will be as effective as education. Telling people what to do (or what not to do) without the "why" isn't going to work.
You can also think of this in terms of economics. Supply and demand, right? If we could teach people how to nourish themselves, exercise, and love their bodies, demand for outrageously sized sodas and sugar drinks would go down. Less demand, less supply.
Maybe I'm being optimistic, but I personally kicked a diet soda habit not long ago simply by learning more about nutrition in my yoga teacher training program. I'm 32 years old and I've been drinking diet soda and other diet drinks most of my life. That was a really, really hard habit to break. I wouldn't have been able to do it if I didn't understand what I was really doing to my body.

I'm in complete agreement with this judge. The idea of banning soda is no different than prohibition in the 20's in that it doesn't work. I think as yogis and meditators and people interested in health that doesn't break apart the body in pieces we know: you can't solve obesity by banning soda, and it's frankly not a great place to start. A great place to start would be with educaiton; i.e. spend that same money on garden plots at schools, or spend that same money on a program educating young kids on soda.

And on top of that, I'm a big believer in the freedom to choose what we want to do. I'm not addressing the larger issue of what happens when you don't have access to healthy food, when you don't have access to healthy information.

I also think we who believe in holistic health need to look at the practical aspects of the issue too; where is the money coming from to ban soda? is that really the best use? or like many things in politics….something that looks bright and shiny and makes someone look good without doing much good.

We're either moving in the direction of personal Liberty and Responsibility for one's OWN choices or in the direction of centralized planning and bureaucratic control over every aspect of our lives…the Universe is not static, we must choose for ourselves which direction we are moving…I, for one, choose Freedom in all things…How about this?…I won't choose for any one else: whom they can love, where they spend their money, what they purchase or invest their time and talents on, or what they decide to put into their own bodies…and everyone will make the same promise, whether they hold some form of governmental distinction, or not